IVF 'good for economy'

Spending more money on IVF treatment in the UK would benefit the economy in the long run, researchers argue.

British fertility experts working for the think-tank Rand Europe believe that although IVF treatment is expensive, the cost is worth it on a purely economical level because of the large amounts in taxes and insurance the individual conceived is likely to pay back to the state during their lifetime.

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It currently costs the government around £13,000 to produce a baby through IVF treatment, but researchers estimate that up to £147,000 could be repaid during the individual's life  a more than ten-fold increase.

Increasing the number of IVF babies born could also help ease the pension crisis, with more babies helping to combat the trend towards an increasingly ageing population.

It is estimated that if the NHS were to fund three cycles of IVF treatment as is advised by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the current figure of just over 10,000 IVF babies born each year could double within two to three years.

Currently, NHS primary care trusts only fund one cycle of IVF treatment due to concerns about costs, and this represents only a quarter of all IVF treatments carried out in the UK.

Currently the UK has one of the worst records for providing IVF treatment in Europe, with other countries far more eager to help couples who are unable to conceive naturally.

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